According to the Los Angeles Times, not everybody in Boise is on board with Californians moving into the area. Wayne Richey, an unsuccessful mayoral candidate, ran his campaign on the notion of stopping inbound migration, which he blames for rising home prices and rents. At a forum of candidates, he was asked about his plan to improve Boise. His answer was, "a $26-billion wall." The population of Boise has more than doubled since 1980 and concerns about affordability and growth are rising to the surface.
California bashing is a cyclical sport with a long history in the heart of Idaho's Treasure Valley. Growth spurts have more than doubled Boise's population since the 1980 census. Four months before federal counters hit the streets here that year, a Washington Post headline crowed, "To Most Idahoans, A Plague of Locusts Is Californians." In this current wave, California concerns have made their way into a heated mayor's race. They have taken up residence on Nextdoor social networks.
And they erupted into a recent tweet storm that swirled around two beloved institutions, Boise State University and football. The electronic uproar caused residents all the way up to Mayor David Bieter to defend their city's welcoming nature and insist that they like Californians, really they do, despite evidence to the contrary.
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